Marriage
Episode 134: The Jewish Girl Who Joined the Islamic Revolution
Listen NowGuita Sazan grew up in a Jewish family in Tehran in the 1960s and 1970s, during the reign of the Shah. She was a teenager during the Islamic Revolution against the Shah and was inspired to join the struggle, even becoming a practicing Muslim. But as time went by, the new regime became more and more repressive, until finally Guita realized her own life might be in danger unless she fled the country. Guita joins us to discuss her dramatic life story and her new memoir Mirrors on Fire: A Jewish Girl Seized in Pursuit of Jihad.
Word of the Week: Yenta (Re-release)
While the podcast is on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. First up, an episode from 2022 all about the word yenta: where it came from, what people think of it, and how its meaning changed over time. Enjoy!
My Identity Struggle as a Patrilineal Jew
Lizzy DanonAs a patrilneal Jew, I’ve faced antisemitism my whole life—yet I’m told by some in my own community that I don't count.
The Jewish Girl's Guide to Genealogy
Slavena Salve NissanA personal and practical guide to uncovering your Jewish family history—one photo, conversation, and record at a time.
Episode 118: The Femme Fatale in the Sukkah
This Sukkot, we're welcoming a special guest into Can We Talk?’s virtual sukkah: the Talmudic “femme fatale” Homa, one of the women featured in her new book, "The Madwoman in the Rabbi's Attic." In this episode, Talmud scholar Gila Fine tells Homa’s story, reinterprets it from Homa’s perspective, and explains why she thinks Homa makes a fitting symbolic guest for Sukkot.
Elza Niego
In 1927, Elza Niego, a young Jewish woman was stabbed to death by an older Turkish man whose romantic advances she had repeatedly refused. Her murder sparked an intense emotional reaction from Jews, which the Turkish press found unacceptable, leading to antisemitic publications and outbursts, including the arrest of nine Jewish leaders.
Asexuality: A Text Study
Jessie AtkinI have never looked at a person and thought,Yes, that is someone I want to know in the biblical sense.
Suzanne Offit
Ronda Spinak interviewed Rabbi Suzanne Offit on March 26, 2014, in Newton, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Project. Suzanne began her rabbinical studies around the age of forty and shares her journey of embracing her Jewish identity, discusses her work in end-of-life care, including a special encounter with Charlotte Bloomberg and the subsequent grant to Hebrew College, and reflects on the transformation of her marriage and spiritual practices throughout her rabbinical education.
Q & A with Jennifer Lang, Author of "Places We Left Behind"
Jodie SadowskyJWA chats with author Jennifer Lang about her forthcoming book, Places We Left Behind: a memoir in miniature.
Episode 94: Rebbetzins in America
What did talented, dedicated Jewish women do before they could become rabbis? Some became rebbetzins. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we’re looking at the changing role of the rebbetzin—the rabbi’s wife. Women have been rabbis in America for just over half a century, but for as long as there have been rabbis, there have been rabbi’s wives—and they've often served as leaders, too. We'll hear from Shuly Rubin Schwartz, author of The Rabbi’s Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life, and from three spouses of rabbis.
Celebrating An Inter-religious Couple on Love Is Blind
Sonia FreedmanAlthough I was somewhat unimpressed byLove Is Blind’s surface-level coverage of inter-religious relationships, it was beautiful to watch the Lemieux fall in love despite their very different backgrounds.
German-Jewish Pietists: Attitudes towards Women
Despite their small numbers, the introspective and penitential religious outlook of the German-Jewish Piestists had a significant and lasting impact on European Jewry. Written by men and intended for a male audience, the Pietists’ writings heighten the profound ambivalence toward women that is inherent in the rabbinic tradition
"Fleishman is in Trouble" Asks Universal Questions
Sarah Jae LeiberThis very Jewish TV adaptation of the bestselling novel crackles with sharply drawn characters and brilliant performances.
Episode 83: Fighting for Israel's "Chained Women"
In Israel, marriage and divorce are governed by Jewish law and controlled by the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical courts. If a Jewish woman wants a divorce, she has to get permission from her husband—and he can refuse. That's exactly what happens to about 1 in 5 Jewish women in Israel who want a divorce, according to a recent survey. In this episode of 'Can We Talk?,' we speak with Kylie Eisman-Lifschitz, board chair of Mavoi Satum, about how rabbinical control over the divorce process in Israel harms Jewish women, and about how organizations like Mavoi Satum are taking on the problem, by working with women one-on-one, but also by fighting for systemic change.
Frolicking Maidens and the Hidden History of the Kittel
Leora KrygierThekittel is commonly worn by men on Yom Kippur, but their ancient use by young maidens to attract husbands is little known.
Missode Israel Piha
Roz Bornstein interviewed Missode Israel Piha on June 28 and September 6, 2001, in Seattle, Washington as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Piha details her family history and upbringing in a religious household in Greece, discussing Jewish customs, traditions, and holiday celebrations, as well as her journey to the United States, and settling in Seattle with family.
Restoring Hope Along with a Family Heirloom
Sheila Solomon ShotwellRestoring my great aunt’s linen is a tribute to her for embracing my non-Jewish mother, in defiance of her family.
Frieda Piepsch Sondland
Roz Bornstein interviewed Frieda Sondland on May 1 and 17, 2001, in Mercer Island, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Frieda recounts her family's escape from Nazi Germany, their journey to South America, and their eventual settlement in Seattle, highlighting community involvement, and the challenges of parenting and aging.
Jewish Women and Intermarriage in the United States
Marriages between Jews and people of other faiths have long fascinated scholars, clergy, and communal leaders, who often considered the choice of a Jewish spouse as an indication of the strength of ethnoreligious identity and commitment to perpetuating Judaism and the Jewish people. However, many Jewish women who intermarry in the United States continue to identify Jewishly, engage in the Jewish community, and raise Jewish children.
This entry uses gender as category of analysis and change over time to illuminate the experience and meaning of interfaith marriage for Jewish women in America. It describes how women navigated their ethnoreligious identities when they married Gentile men, the influences of feminism, the rise of ethnic consciousness, and parenthood.
Episode 77: Word of the Week: Yenta
How did a popular Yiddish woman's name come to mean gossip and busybody? In the first of our new Word of the Week mini-series, we trace the evolution of the word yenta. Producer Jen Richler talks with Fiddler on the Roof scholar Jan Lisa Huttner, comedian Judy Gold, author Lizzie Skurnick, and TikTok star and Torah commentator Miriam Anzovin. And in a special cameo...Yente the Matchmaker herself!
Helène Aylon
Helene Aylon was an American, New York-based, multimedia visual artist who began by creating process art in the 1970s, focused on anti-nuclear and eco-activist art by the 1980s, and subsequently devoted more than 35 years to the multi-partite installation The G-d Project. This last body of work’s often direct or indirect textuality resonates from and responds to Judaism’s traditionally male-dominated textuality as part of a larger commentary on women in Judaism.
I’m Jewish. My Partner is Muslim. Here’s How We Make It Work.
Zia SaylorCelebrating our differences has brought my partner and me closer—but it hasn’t always been easy.
